Letters to Juliet

2010

Action / Adventure / Comedy / Drama / Romance

Synopsis

An American girl on vacation in Italy finds an unanswered "letter to Juliet" -- one of thousands of missives left at the fictional lover's Verona courtyard, which are typically answered by the "secretaries of Juliet" -- and she goes on a quest to find the lovers referenced in the letter.

An American girl on vacation in Italy finds an unanswered "letter to Juliet" -- one of thousands of missives left at the fictional lover's Verona courtyard, which are typically answered by the "secretaries of Juliet" -- and she goes on a quest to find the lovers referenced in the letter.

Tech specs

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by lasttimeisaw6 / 10

an adequate rom-com made by the genre journeyman Gary Winick

An adequate rom-com, also the final movie made by the genre journeyman Gary Winick (who passed away from brain cancer in 2011), LETTERS TO JULIET stars Amanda Seyfried as a modern-day romantic heroine Sophie Hall, travels from New York to Verona and serendipitously, destiny presents a new light into her life under the tourist-swarmed spot, Juliet's balcony.

The story threads through two pairs of searching for love, Sophie, must choose between her restaurateur fiancé Victor (García Bernal, thanklessly loquacious and inward-looking) and a young British barrister Charlie Wyman (Egan), who, very importantly, provides pro-bono service for those who cannot afford a punitive legal fee; meantime, Charlie's grandmother Claire Smith (Redgrave) is trying to track down her Italian lover Lorenzo (Nero), with whom she has lost the touch 50 years ago.

And it is all because Sophie chances upon Claire's letter to Juliet, which is preposterously stuck in the wall adjacent to the said balcony for half-an-century without being noticed (not to mention there are soi-disant "Juliet's secretaries" frequently collecting these letters and voluntarily answering them accordingly), so Sophie writes back to Claire and it prompts the whole junket trip to locate Lorenzo's namesake one by one, lavished with the area's bucolic landscape.

Pedestrianly emulating a time-tested template but with generic but feel-good wheezes (piteous backstories is a must, he is parentless and she is deserted by her mother and attraction must be bred from initial enmities, etc. etc...), the film is very self-aware of its functionality and target demography, Seyfried is particularly photogenic in her fresh-faced innocuousness, and overtly star-struck in front of a gracious Vanessa Redgrave, who was in a very difficult time at then because of the sudden bereavement of her daughter Natasha Richardson (1963-2009) due to a ski injury, and stoutly puts on a strong face along with this therapeutic filming process, safeguarded by her spouse Franco Nero, long live Vanessa! For those who watches LETTERS TO JULIET of his/her own volition, blithe gratification is guaranteed, whereas for those who doesn't bother to do so, there is no loss either.

Reviewed by studioAT4 / 10

A nice, sentimental film

Sadly the last film directed by Gary Winick before he died, this is an enjoyable enough romantic film, with a good central performance from Amanda Seyfried.

It's very soppy and sentimental, but it's a moving film about second chances, and the need for hope both in a relationship and in life.

I thought it was a nice film, and well worth a watch.

Reviewed by Jackson Booth-Millard6 / 10

Letters to Juliet

I mainly knew about this film because of the leading actress, I didn't know anything else apart from that, but critics gave it good reviews, so I hoped I would like it, directed by Gary Winick (13 Going on 30, Charlotte's Web, Bride Wars). Basically aspiring American writer Sophie Hall (Amanda Seyfried) works for magazine The New Yorker as a fact checker, she goes on a vacation to Verona, Italy with her chef fiancé Victor (Amores Perros's Gael García Bernal). While there Victor is unmoved by the romance of Italy, he is preoccupied to research for his soon to be opening restaurant, he often neglects Sophie, she meanwhile is looking around for something to write about for a magazine article. Sophie explores the courtyard of Verona, most famous for being the setting of William Shakespeare's Romeon and Julet, there thousands of people write letters to the fictional lover, Sophie finds a group of women called the "Secretaries of Juliet", who respond to these letters, using the return addresses. While assisting the women collecting these letters, Sophie knocks a brick out of a wall, and finds an unanswered letter to Juliet, written in 1957, so she decides to respond to the letter, hoping that she will be able to find the woman who wrote it. Soon enough, the now elderly woman, Claire Smith (Vanessa Redgrave), along with her handsome barrister grandson Charlie Wyman (Christopher Egan), arrive in Verona, Sophie and Claire form a friendship, but Charlie and Sophie do not get on with each other. Following Sophie's reply, Claire wishes to find the man the letter was intended for, Sophie thinks that this story could help her writing career, so decides to help her find her long-lost love, Lorenzo Bartolini. The only problem is that Lorenzo Bartolini is a very common name, many live in the area, they spend days searching for the man Claire recognises, with no success, including one Lorenzo being dead. Charlie blames Sophie for Claire's sadness, he says she knows nothing about loss, but Claire tells him that Sophie's mother walked from her when she was little, she wants Charlie to apologise to Sophie, they resolve this argument, and get much closer, to the point when they kiss. The three spend one last day searching for Lorenzo, on a whim they find and stop at a vineyard for a drink, while there Claire spots a young man who is a spitting image of young Lorenzo, they discover he is the grandson of the Lorenzo Bartolini (Franco Nero) they have been looking for, Lorenzo and Claire happily reunite. Sophie returns to New York, Bobby the New Yorker Magazine Editor (Oliver Platt) agrees that the story will appeal to many readers and is pleased to publish it, even asking if she has other stories in the pipeline, Sophie is pleased to say she will look into it. Sophie decides to break off her engagement with Victor, before heading back to Verona to witness Claire and Lorenzo getting married, she sees Charlie with another woman, Patricia (Ashley Lilley), she wrongly assumes he is in love with her, admitting she loves him, he explains that Patricia is his cousin, Charlie also admits his love for Sophie, after a Romeo and Juliet style balcony moment, he falls, and they kiss as he lies on the ground. Also starring Luisa Ranieri as Isabella, Marina Massironi as Francesca and Lidia Biondi as Donatella. Seyfried is beautiful and sweet as the young woman trying to find the perfect story, and Redgrave gives a subtle but great performance as the old woman trying find her past lover, I first thought the story was a bit random, but I went along with it, then I found out it was based on a non-fiction book, it a charming tale of long-lost love, and newfound love along the way, a pleasant romantic drama. Good!